"Pieces of the Island"-An English Translation

Abel Lopez Perez

A family from Palmarito de Cauto (Santiago de Cuba) which was affected by hurricane Sandy protests on street

Fourteen activists of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) were violently arrested by the political police this past week in the Eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, said Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, general coordinator of the mentioned pro-freedom group.

“Specifically, there were 13 human rights activists detained and one relative“, explained the dissident, “3 of these are being held in the Third Police Unit of Santiago de Cuba, confined in very harsh conditions since last Monday when they carried out a public protest demanding respect for the citizens affected by Hurricane Sandy in Santiago“.

Another 6 detainees, arrested on Tuesday, November 27th, were beaten, according to witnesses. One of them- Lazaro Romero-suffered a severe head injury, added Ferrer. This occurred when the group was on its way to greet Lady in White Adriana Nunez Pascual, who was celebrating her birthday that day. It was also reported that Alexei Varga Martin suffered violent physical aggressions.

“Meanwhile, last Friday- the 23rd- Francisco Claro Osorio was arrested after he was accused by policemen of putting up signs with anti-Castro messages throughout the city“, said Ferrer Garcia, “afterward, they detained his brother- Ruben Claro- when he was taking him some products for his personal hygiene in the police unit“.

This 30th of November, Abel Lopez Perez was also detained. “His brother- Hector Lopez Perez- was also detained. Police agents searched his home and we still have not been able to confirm if they occupied some materials or equipment which we use to record or publish denouncements, etc“.

Ferrer assures that this wave of arrests- as well as many others being reported throughout the country- is attributed to the increase of pro-democracy activism in the streets of Cuba.

“In addition, all these repressive actions indicate that the tyranny is more fearful every time because they know that the majority of Cubans no longer withstand the lack of freedom, the oppression, and the misery in which they are subjected“, he affirmed. “All of this plus that fact that, for example, in Santiago de Cuba, as well as many other regions of Eastern Cuba, after more than a month of hurricane Sandy, there are still hundreds of families without roofs, who barely even have enough food for their children, and there is a worrying outbreak of diseases like dengue and cholera due to a sanitary and hygienic crisis“.

The former political prisoner points out that the Cuban regime, instead of assisting citizens in reconstructing their homes after the storm, responds with “agents of the political police and other repressive organisms in the street so that they patrol the entire region, always ready to oppress, because there is much discontent and spontaneous protests are taking place throughout different spots where they are supposed to instead be selling materials for the reconstruction of homes“.

Many of these protests have occurred, according to Ferrer Garcia, because “there is a horrible bureaucracy, which is very complex, very complicated and full of lots of corruption. Functionaries only give materials to their own relatives and friends, while the rest of the people- the everyday citizens- are the ones who suffer the most and are those whose problems are not solved and that’s why these repressive actions occur. When they see 3 or 4 activists congregated who try to film a citizen protest or documenting a difficult social situation, then the repressive agents are there, rapidly mobilizing to beat, detain, and take them to dungeons for numerous days“.

UNPACU recently published a video on their YouTube account of a protest carried out by citizens affected by the hurricane. See the video here.

And it is precisely these kinds of protests, as well as other peaceful demonstrations by human rights activists throughout the island, which Ferrer Garcia affirms bring much fear to the dictatorship, signaling that they have very little time left.